Local Bus Services - Boost Russells Hall!
The 222 runs from Dudley Town Centre to Merry Hill serving the giant Russells Hall Hospital has been the subject of good news. Operating on a 12 minute frequency throughout the day, Monday to Sunday. The bus is making a substantial contribution to the access arrangements for the hospital.Dave McCall General Manager West Bromwich and Pensnett said "The service that we have been developing with support from local Councillors, some of whom were on the PTA, has been well received by the public.Over the last few years with the reliability measures that we have built into the service and the increase in frequency that we have introduced, this has shown some encouraging patronage growth along the route. This growth is estimated at around 10%.With this development and the experience that we have gained we are now looking enthusiastically to a new service we are going to trial with Staffordshire County Council, again with Russells Hall Hospital at its hub.This new service will extend the 261 from Wall Heath out into Wombourne creating the links that will allow South Staffordshire to once again connect easily with the important Russells Hall Hospital and the resurgent Dudley town centre. Our time scale with Staffordshire County Council is to introduce this new extended 261 route during the late summer, after complying with Transport Regulations.We are looking to use low floor easy access buses from our Pensnett depot to service this route, with a 30 minute frequency for the length of the trial period. Obviously we are hoping that the service will be well used when it is introduced." Corporate Affairs Director Phil Bateman added "There is a bus either arriving or departing the hospital at every 3 minutes during peak times. That is a capacity of 1700 seats an hour! Russells Hall Hospital now has 14 individual Travel West Midlands bus services penetrating the hospital site, improving links to the hospital for both staff and patients."Russell’s Hall is very much a ’hub’ for local TWM bus services, and allows access from across the town of Dudley. This level of bus service should help alleviate the car parking issues that have dominated local news stories of late.The bus routes currently serving Russells Hall Hospital are:138Birmingham - Russels Hall Hospitall via Halesowen246Dudley - Stourbridge via Brierley Hill247Dudley & Stourbridge Circular (Clockwise)247ADudley & Stourbridge Circular (Clockwise)248Dudley & Stourbridge Circular (Anticlockwise)248ADudley & Stourbridge Circular (Anticlockwise)261Dudley - Wall Heath via Pensnett and Kingswinford264Dudley & Kingswinford Circular (Clockwise)265Dudley & Kingswinford Circular (Anticlockwise)274Dudley & Kingswinford Circular (Clockwise)275Dudley & Kingswinford Circular (Anticlockwise)282Gornal Wood - Merry Hill via Pensnett, Dudley & Netherton311Walsall - Stourbridge via Wednesbury, Dudley & Merry Hill312Walsall - Stourbridge via Wednesbury, Dudley & Merry HillClick here to select and view online timetablesor contact Traveline on 0870 608 2 608 (Textphone: 0870 214 2216)
Published 24th May 2006